WINTER HAVEN — Polk State Baseball's bat stayed hot on Tuesday as the Eagles closed March with a bang. Polk State finished with 15 hits in a 9-4 win over Eastern Florida State College.
Polk State (24-16) wasted no time seizing control. The Eagles opened with three straight hits before scoring runs on productive outs from
Kustarr Webb and
Zach Lester. After scoring a run in the first,
Hayden Testerman drove home
Leo Suarez in the second to extend the lead to 3-0.
The Titans were able to get to Polk State starter
Vincent Antuna for two runs in the third inning. Those were the only two runs allowed by Antuna in four innings.Â
From there, Polk State gradually pulled away. After the Eagles scored a run in the fourth,
Josh Cruz singled home two in the fifth to push the lead to 6-2.
Marvin Montenegro drove in his second run later in the inning.
Suarez homered in the seventh to extend the lead to 8-2. After Eastern Florida scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the eighth,
Jack Muller capped the scoring in the bottom of the inning with a sacrifice fly to score Testerman.
Following a strong start from Antuna,
Jason Sawyer,
Jacob Amerman,
Anthony Schatz and
Aiden Dolan combined to hold the Titans without an earned run over the final five innings.
At the plate,
Bradyn Potter went 3-for-4 with a run scored. Montenegro, Testerman, Lester and Cruz each had two hits. Cruz and Suarez each scored twice.
Omir Santos drove in two runs for Eastern. Jackson Wargo went 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the loss.
With the victory, Polk State is now a season-high eight games over .500. It will try to stay hot on Thursday as it visits Santa Fe College.
